----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Loretta.... 
  To: ....rootsweb.com 
  Sent: Friday, July 15, 2005 8:36 AM
  Subject: Writing a Family History 


  Given that you have decided  with whom you wish to begin your history and have also decided a point in time from which to begin your writings, then you need something to guide your story so it will be coherent.  With all of your research materials before you, construct a time-line of the major events in the lifetime of your subject.  The time-line should provide a natural transition point to your next subject person.  If it doesn't, why doesn't it? Ask yourself that question.  Are you leaving out an important event?  The natural transition from one person to another  via the events and time will help to provide a natural flow of history which aids the reader and helps to maintain the reader interest and involvement in what you have written.  Your skill with description and prose are the manifestation of the "heart" you put  into your writing.  

  Good luck! 
  Loretta 
  ***************
In addition to Loretta's most worthwhile suggestions, as you write you need to continually ask yourself, "Would I want to spend much time reading about these same activities if such had been done or experienced by an ancestor 200 years ago?"  

Unless you can answer "yes" to that question, then move on to a more interesting subject.  Examples?  It would seem likely that most of your descendants will not want to spend a lot of time reading about Uncle Henry's beekeeping (so tell them he did so, and drop it), Aunt Jane's pear tree in which you played as kids (all kids played in trees at one time or another), or your grandfather's career in medicine (business careers are seldom very interesting to others and are not big deals).  So, remember, you are writing for the purpose of revealing to future descendants what your life and those of your ancestors were all about, and how you and your family viewed your world.

One final thought: as I have said in the past, intellectual integrity - honesty, candor and forthrightness - are absolute necessities in writing.  History of your family MUST include bad guys/gals and bad acts, just as it includes noble acts and upstanding people.  They all are what makes up YOU AND your descendants.  So, never censor history; it was and is what it was and is, and it needs no corrections, additions, deletions or amendments by you. 

Oh yeh, if you need to do so, BUY a book about writing, and there are a number of them on the market.  Paul Drake JD  



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